Military services, in particular in the United States, are increasingly relying on remotely controlled vehicles to conduct surveillance, gain scientific information or mount military attacks. The most distinguished example of remote controlled vehicles is aircraft known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or colloquially as drones. The UAVs are configured to be piloted remotely and send back information, for example, surveillance images, to a remote location. A person at the remote location is in control of the UAV aircraft, effectively being the pilot from a remote distance.
The remote pilot is typically in a command or control room and receives telemetry from the UAV aircraft including pictures and aircraft data such as aircraft orientation and ground speed. The use of a remotely controlled aircraft removes the exposure of the pilot when flying over hostile or difficult territory, conducting surveillance or other military activities.
While it has been known for a relatively long period that remotely piloted aircraft can be used for surveillance or reconnaissance purposes, recently the remote controlled aircraft have been equipped with collision avoidance systems and targeted weapons systems such as laser guided precision weapons for use against identified enemy targets or combatants. The UAVs may also be used to deploy mines, buoys or torpedos, for example. The use of the UAV remote aircraft in a hostile or combat situation may require the aircraft to be maneuvered to avoid itself being targeted or to properly align on a moving target.
Not only is the advantage of not providing a pilot with an aircraft apparent, for example, where a pilot over hostile territory is difficult to extract if the aircraft fails, but the relative level of fitness and other skills of the remotely disposed pilot are at lower levels. For example, the physical abilities of a pilot to withstand high G forces is not a requirement for a remote control pilot who does not experience the forces of the remote aircraft but receives telemetry data indicative of them. The crash rates for the remote control aircraft are relatively high and this appears in part due to the nature of the telemetry or feedback the pilot receives. For example, properties such as the differential shear forces across different parts of the vehicle and thus the torque being applied when the vehicle is loaded with ordinance and the changes during and after release of the ordinance are not available to the remote pilot as input for their action.
According to the US military and private defense companies, a principle cause of UAV crashes is pilot error. The remote pilot, for example, does not feel wind shear or loss of lift events but only receives information indicative of, say, the altitude of the remote aircraft from telemetry data. If the remote pilot is not focussing on the changes of particular variables from the telemetry, it can be difficult for the remote pilot to appreciate the circumstance of the aircraft and avoid it from performing undesirably or crashing.